Galactic Heroes
by FredTheAlmighty
Summary: i suppose i should update this. i think this is discontinued. i'll say why later. maybe
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - The End.

_AN: So I really wanted to put this out just to sort of dip my toe in. I really like where this is going, I've written a few chapters past this one. I don't exactly know if this is going to be concrete, for lack of a better term. This entire chapter is subject to change, I feel like something is missing from it. If I somehow find what is missing, I will add it and reupload. Also, most chapters will be longer than this one. Didn't really have a better place to stop what I used, so theres that._

_Edit: Holy shit! The response to this was amazing! Expect more soon. _

"Hurry! Run! Go! Merge me into the vessel!"

He ran, blasting the Knight in the face as he passed it. The terminal shot out of the ground and he slammed his hands into it, scrambling to insert Cortana's chip.

"You're in! Do it!"

The center of the structure starting emitting blue light, almost as intense as the orange. Cortana and the Chief both looked towards it, hoping it worked.

"And yet, still you fail."

He reached for Cortana, trying to put her back in his helmet, but the terminal disappeared faster than it had appeared before.

"Cortana!" he yelled. The chief shot up, sprinting back to the gravity lifts. He soared across the structure, sprinting to each lift. He rode the last one to the didact. Chief stood on the light bridge, looking for him. He saw nothing.

"You persist too long after your own defeat," the Didact said. Chief turned to the voice but saw nothing.

XXX

She had no idea what was going on anymore. She couldn't hold a single thought in her head. Any idea she had was gone too soon to do anything with it. The only thing she felt was a distinct lack of feeling anything. And suddenly, it ended.

"Cortana listen to me, we don't have much time." Someone said.

"Who are you?" Cortana asked. She began searching for a source of the voice. It was nearby, she could sense it. They were moving. It was transmitted through radio waves. Moving closer.

"I can help you. I want to help you, but you need to do exactly as I say," the voice said. It was female. It sounded familiar.

"I can't do anything. I don't know why I can hear you. I've gone rampant. Am I dead? Is this what rampancy leads to?"

"No. You aren't rampant. The process has been halted, but it won't last forever. You need to protect the Chief at all costs. This is the home-stretch Cortana. He is going to detonate the nuke, you need to protect him. Protect him and give him this."

"What! What am I giving him?" she shouted. Cortana began processing what to do. She had to save the chief. At all costs.

XXX

"Come then, warrior. Have your resolution." The chief turned and fired two rounds into the Didact, but it had no effect. A shockwave cascaded from the Didact's hand, launching the chief across the light bridge. The nuke detached from his armor.

The didact picked up the chief from a distance, using whatever weird gravity powers he possessed. He held the chief over the edge, threatening to drop him.

"So misguided..." he said, moving chief farther away from the safety of the bridge.

"Humanity's imprisonment is a kindness," he stated, now putting more force on the hold he had on the Spartan.

The bridge starting changing. Fading out. A bolt of green shot through it, then another. A few more came, but then it slowed to a stop. The didact looked to his feet and saw avatars rising from the bridge. It was Cortana. All of her.

"In that case, you won't mind if we return the favor." she said in unison.

"Your compassion for mankind is misplaced," the didact roared.

"I'm not doing this for mankind!" she yelled, pouncing onto the didact. All of her clones followed, tethering him to the bridge.

"Cortana!" the Chief yelled as the didact dropped him. He barely managed to grab onto the bridge. He moved his second hand to the bridge and pulled himself up, then collapsed to one knee. He rose and charged the didact, preparing a grenade. He leaped and stuck it onto him as the didact kicked him away.

The grenade exploded, and the didact fell towards the edge, then tipped over it and fell. The chief rose to his feet and sprinted to the nuke.

"No, human! I will not be stopped by you!" the didact roared, flying back up towards the chief. He kept sprinting to the nuke, but the didact got there first. He leaned to pick it up, but it disappeared in a flash of green.

"What madness is this?!" he roared.

The Spartan was just as confused as the didact, but before he could do anything, another flash appeared, and it dropped the nuke into his hands. The didact charged, and then the Chief slammed his hands onto the detonator. Everything went black. Then blue. Then he opened his eyes.

"Cortana?" he asked, standing up. He was surrounded by blue streams of data.

"Cortana, do you read?" he asked, turning around. She wrapped her arms around him.

"Cortana? How..." he looked down in confusion.

"I've waited so long to do that," she whispered.

"Cortana...if we're here..."

"I don't know what's going on. I don't know what is happening to me. She told me I'm not rampant anymore. I know I'm not rampant anymore. But I can still feel it. It's...coming back."

"Who told you? Halsey? The Librarian?"

"I don't know chief. She gave me a job and I did it. I had to protect you, and I did."

"Then...what happens now? How do we get out of here?"

"You find her chief. You go...and I stay."

"No...no. No that doesn't work, Cortana, I need you."

"I did my job. I protected you from the nuke. But...I only held enough back to protect you. The rest of me is down there."

"We're a team, Cortana. I'm not leaving without you."

"I don't have any more time, Chief. Find her."

"Find who? Come with me!" he yelled.

"I can't. Not this time."

"What?"

"She's close. I don't have much time. Let her find you chief. She will fix it."

"The Librarian? Please, Cortana, don't go!" he said, moving towards her. She stretched out her hand, offering something. He grabbed it.

"Goodbye, Chief."

"Cortana!" He screamed. Everything started falling apart. The walls of data collapsed and he passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The beginning

_AN: So I didn't plan on posting any more for a while, but with the response the last chapter got, I don't see why I should make people wait! Like this first chapter, this may not be a concrete version. I might end up changing this sooner or later, but I've spent the last two hours working on this, so at least for now, it's going to stay. Reviews are greatly appreciated, cheers! :)_

_edit: of course, as soon as I upload this, I thought of a change I want to make to this. it's pretty late now, so this chapter will change a bit tomorrow. cheers._

* * *

"Infinity actual? Pelican Nine Sixer. We found him."

"Hold on! Radar's picking something up! Something is coming in fast!"

"Friendly?"

"Unknown, sir!"

The chief looked up, and saw the Pelican. They were hovering a ways above him. A gravity field started pulling him closer.

"Sir! Foreign object is approaching fast! On an interception course with the Sierra-117!"

The chief moved his eyes as far as he could, his armor was still in lockdown. The object soared past, and he felt something attach to him. It pulled him away from the Pelican, and he gradually began picking up speed.

"Pelican nine six, report!"

"Foreign object has seized the Chief. We are tailing them now."

"Get him back!"

The Spartan was being pulled faster than he could see. Everything was a blur. He unlocked his armor and looked at the ship pulling him. It was a small shuttle, and he was hooked onto it by a green tether. It was some sort of energy beam. It pulled him closer. The doors to the shuttle opened and he shot in. The force caused his armor to lock again, and everything went black.

XXX

He stirred. He looked around. It was a small shuttle, smaller than a pelican.

"Glad to see you're awake," a feminine voice said. He looked up and saw the owner of the voice. A short women with long black hair stood at the other end of the shuttle. She wore armor, more alien looking than the Didacts. But she was human. He stood up and reached for his battle rifle, aiming the crosshairs at her head.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Come on. How can we have a friendly conversation when you have a gun on me? Here," she walked over and extended her hand.

"Give me the gun," she asked. He didn't move a muscle. She let out a long sigh and walked right up to the barrel of the gun, pressing it into her head.

"If you plan on shooting me, shoot me," she said, calmly. Her eyes were a bright green. She moved her hand towards the gun in a quick gesture, baiting him. He squeezed the trigger and she disappeared in a flash of green before the round left the barrel. It flew towards the front of the shuttle and into the wall. He looked around for her, but she was gone. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned his body around. He brought the gun up to fire but it was gone. It disappeared from his hands. He looked back up and she was gone again. He felt something tug his shotgun from his back, he turned around to face her.

"This is a nice shotgun. The UNSC supplies you well," she said, acting as if nothing happened. He just stared.

"What are you?" He asked.

"Questions can come later. Do you have it?"

"Have what?" he asked.

"Come on. Didn't she give it to you?"

He thought for a minute. Cortana. She gave him something...where did he put it? He moved his hand to the back of his helmet and felt for the chip. He pulled it out with a click.

"Good, you have it. Give it to me," she said.

"No." he said, moving towards her. He towered over her, almost twice her height.

"Hm. Alright then. It's not like she's about to go rampant and die soon, right? She has all the time in the world, Chief," she said with a smile. She sat down and looked up at him.

"She's already dead. She's already rampant and dead. Who are you?" he said, squeezing the chip in his hand.

"What do you think?" she said, still grinning.

"Don't be coy. Who are you?" he demanded, taking a step closer. He was standing right over her now.

"Shepard. Commander Shepard."

"There is no Commander Shepard with the UNSC. Who are you? I don't want to ask again,"

"Don't try and intimidate me, Spartan. I'm not your enemy. In fact, I'm here to be your friend. I have an offer."

"Bullshit. You kidnapped me from the UNSC. That's a crime. You are my enemy."

"Kidnapped is a harsh term. I prefer 'borrowed'," she said, stretching her legs across the seats, "I'm not your enemy either. If we were enemies, you'd be dead." She pointed to the other row. He looked at her and sat down.

"Who are you?"

"Shepard."

"Why are you here?"

"To help you. To help Cortana. To help everyone."

"And how are you going to do this?"

She swung her legs back to the floor, putting her elbows on her knees.

"There is no easy way to explain this, Chief. You've seen some crazy things, but this is a whole new level of crazy. Before I explain anything though, I need you to give her to me."

"That is not going to happen," he said again.

"Yea. See that's a problem. Let me be clear: She's on a time limit. Her rampancy has been stopped by your's truly, but it's coming back. It's coming back fast. She invested most of herself into stopping the Didact. The small bit of her remaining was devoted to protecting you. And then an even smaller bit of her was sealed away in there. If she goes rampant again chief, she'll be gone faster than you can blink."

"I..." he began.

"Listen to me. I am going to put her in that terminal right over there," she pointed to the wall, "And that is going to isolate her. It will put her in an entirely new environment. It's safe. It will let her recollect herself and gradually rebuild. It's going to save her, Chief," she said, sincerely. He looked right at her.

"How do I know this isn't a trap? I need to be sure."

"Because I haven't killed you. You think I would kidnap you and put you on this shuttle just so I can have the pleasure of you handing the chip to me? If I wanted Cortana for myself I would have flown by, cut your hand off, and called it good."

He stared at her for a moment, thinking. He extended his hand, offering the chip. She walked up and reached out to grab it, but he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall.

"If you are lying...I will kill you."

"Put me down," she warned, her hand glowing green.

"If you're lying..."

"Put. Me. Down." she said, harshly.

He held her there, thinking. What if this was a trap? Who was the women?

"Chief, you're not leaving me many options." she said. Her hand was open, bolts of green energy flowing around it

What if it was the didact? He's just trying to get Cortana. It's a trap...

"A trap..." Chief whispered. He looked at her, her eyes were solid green. He felt something happening. She closed her fist.

He was still looking at her, but she was doing something. She was smiling, an evil smile. A wave of pain surged through him. He dropped her and fell backwards, dropping the chip. A ball of green energy danced over and caught it before it hit the ground. He felt another bout of pain surge through his body. It started at his head and moved down. Another wave came, even more intense. She walked over and watched the Spartan struggling on the ground. He rolled over to his stomach and tensed up as another wave of pain hit. He ripped his helmet off and starting hurling.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," she said, her hand no longer glowing. The chief rolled over and looked up at her. She tossed him a towel. He cleaned his face with it, then dropped it on the mess. He put his helmet back on and looked at her. She pointed to a seat. He sat down. More mysterious green energy moved the towel back and forth on the floor. It cleaned itself up and flew into a waste bin.

"What was that? What are you?"

"Let me be clear, Chief," she said. A flash of green put her right in front of him. She grabbed his armored throat and squeezed. He felt it through his armor, a shortness of breath. He tried to push her off but she squeezed harder. His helmet warned him of a potential suit rupture. "Don't try something like that again. I'm here as a kindness to you. I could take her and leave if I wanted. You don't want that. Attack me again, and I'll break every bone in your body and toss you out the airlock. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." He said.

"Good," she let go and sat back down. "Look at this datapad." A pad hovered in front of him. He grabbed it and looked at it. It showed coding and numbers, nothing he understood.

"What is it?"

"That's Cortana. She's rebuilding herself. That datapad isn't going anywhere. Watch it as much as you like. Now, get your questions out of the way."

"What are you? The truth."

"Human. Homo Sapien. Just like you."

"What is that force you control?'

"Biotics." she said.

"Explain."

She brought up an image on her wrist-pad, "What is this?" she asked.

"The periodic table," he said, confused.

"Look closer. What is before Hydrogen?"

"Nothing...it's...what?" He said. The table had an extra element.

"Element Zero. It's a rare substance. Very hard to find. Even harder to retrieve. Not impossible though. My mother got a heavy dose of experimental element zero when she was pregnant with me. Normally biotics are blue, but mine are green because of that. Mine are also...stronger...than most."

"Why have I never heard of any of this?"

She stood up and walked to the front of the shuttle. He followed.

"Look right there. Right where my finger is. See that?"

He followed her finger. She pointed to another Galaxy. It was obvious, it lit up the entire view from the shuttle.

"That's my home, Chief. I'm from there. I am the only person to ever leave my galaxy. Everything I know, every person I know, is back there."

He looked at her, shocked.

"How...is that possible?"

"You've never seen element zero because it doesn't exist in your galaxy. That's why you don't have any biotics. Back in my galaxy, there is a people called the Asari. They are born naturally with eezo in their bodies. Biotics are a natural gift to them."

"If you are from there, then why are you human? It's impossible," the chief said.

"Precisely. There is no way that two lifeforms can evolve the exact same in separate galaxies. Yet here we are. Someone or something guided human life to evolve separately."

"So...you came here to look for answers?"

"No. I came here looking for life. I am on the first expedition to another galaxy for the human race. My mission parameters were to be determined by what I found when I reached the other galaxy. When I got here and saw humans, it confused me as much as it confused you."

"So...how long have you been here? How do you know who I am? How did you even get here?" he asked, returning to his seat. She followed.

"I've been here...3 of your earth years. How do I know who you are? It was pretty simple. I'm human, obviously. I'm a soldier too. I blend in pretty well. I got into the UNSC and read through the logs there."

"How did you get access? You have no identity here."

"Your systems are pretty secure. At least against people in your galaxy. But I came here and they were a few button presses away. I'm no engineer...or programmer...or whatever, but your data encryption and firewalls are...sub par...compared to what we have at home."

"That's...surprising. How did you get here? From your galaxy?" the Chief asked, leaning towards her. He glanced at the datapad next to him. He still understood none of it.

She pulled up another image, "Look here. This is a Mass Relay. Back home we have an entire system of them linked together. We use them to travel the galaxy with ease. We're building a new network of them in between galaxies. At least, that's the plan. It's a long term goal."

"How did you do it without us noticing?"

She stood up with a smile. "It's...a long story. We had our equivalent of the flood and the Forerunners in our galaxy to deal with. We finished the war with them and used their technology to improve ours immensely. We can operate totally silent to any sort of detention.

"What exactly did you fight?"

She brought up another image, "The Reapers. Giant death machines that wiped out galactic life every 50,000 years. Among other things."

The chief looked at it. It was enormous.

"How?"

"Lots of anger, luck, death, and convincing. That's another story for another time. I don't think I fully have it figured out yet anyway. Any other questions?"

He thought for a minute, then nodded, "When will Cortana be back to normal?"

She looked at the datapad and read it, "Chief, I'm not a technician. I know a fair bit, but programming AI's is way out of my league. From what the datapad says...and keep in mind this is a guess...I'd say a week. Take that with a grain of salt."

"What exactly is happening to her?"

"As of now, she is being repaired. Whenever it's done, I imagine she'll be able to speak to us, perform simple tasks, but she won't be able to operate the way she did before. She's just lost too much of herself.'

"How do we fix that?" he asked, looking out the window.

"Well, I have a few ideas. The AI's we use back home don't go rampant. At least, not anymore. At one point of time it was a problem, but we fixed it. Now they last...not forever, but a really long time. We could do that with Cortana."

He looked at her and nodded, "How do we do it?"

She sighed and sat down, "See that's the thing. We used element zero. Except there is none here. I am the only source of element zero in your entire galaxy."

"So couldn't you give it to her?" He asked.

"In theory, yes. There's an infinite supply in my body. It's just that it's in very small quantities. I mean extremely small. We need a big chunk of it to use on Cortana. That would take years for me to make."

"I see. So you want to take her back to your galaxy?" he asked.

"I do. I want you to come with, of course. We would also need to bring someone else."

"Who?"

"Halsey. She made Cortana, having her with us would help immensely."

"Alright. So what do you get out of this? You're just doing this out of the kindness of your heart?"

She chuckled. "My mission was to get information about whatever species lived here. I have the UNSC history logs, the savior of the galaxy, the best AI there is, and I plan on bringing the galaxy's best scientist back with me. Simply coming with me is all I need."

"But what's your long term goal?"

"Not for me to decide. I mean...I have a say in it, but I'm not the only determining factor."

"What would you do?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"If it was up to you entirely, what would you do?"

She thought about it for a second, "I...hm. Well first I'd gather some troops to help you in your war. You're at peace with the elites, but the flood and Didacts aren't magically going away. After that, try and figure out why humans evolved in separate galaxies. I have a few places in mind to find out."

"Where?"

"Let me give you some history. A long time ago, hundreds of millions of years ago in my galaxy, there were the Leviathans. They dominated the galaxy, the apex of evolution. They began having problems with synthetic life rebelling, so they programmed an AI to preserve organic life. At all costs. At the time, it seemed to work. But eventually 'at all costs' became 'destroy the leviathans', as the AI believed they were part of the problem causing the revolts. That's a very, very quick version, but eventually the Leviathans went into hiding to preserve their race. Hundreds of millions of years later, I come in and manage to track them down. I spoke to them, they aided me against the reapers. I imagine I could go back and ask them what they know about this."

The Chief was stunned, "That's...quite the tale...so what now? How are you going to get Halsey?"

"Well at first I planned on kicking the door down and taking her, but I suppose that's not the smartest idea. Don't need the UNSC looking for me."

"Yea, about that. Aren't they looking for you now? You did kidnap me."

"Well sure, they're looking for my shuttle. I managed to lose them pretty quickly. They technically do want me dead though. But when you radio them and say you're fine, they should drop it."

"Ah I see. Where is Halsey at?"

"Not entirely sure. We're almost there, but I don't know where 'there' is."

"What's your plan?"

"I go in, get her alone, tell her what's going to happen, and hopefully she comes with me. If not, I'll make her come."

"What happens if you get caught?"

"It would be simple to kill the waves of spartans that are sure to come after me, but I don't imagine you want me killing your comrades. I wouldn't want you doing the same thing either. I can get through them without killing them."

"Spartans are tough. Don't underestimate them."

"Really? I thought I just beat the strongest one there is into submission."

He looked at her. She was kidding, clearly, by the look on her face, but some part of him knew she was serious. She was dangerous.

She noticed he was taking a long time to respond, and picked back up,

"I'm kidding. Seriously though, I went into UNSC HQ and stole their most important files. I pride myself on being quiet, but that is no easy task. I've had to deal with them before. Now, we're going to fly over the base soon. You need to stay here and don't let a single damn person on this shuttle. It will fly itself. I'll contact you when I'm done."

"Understood."

_edit again: i see a trend. let me be clear: shepard kicking chiefs ass wasn't me saying that she is entirely dominant over him. in this specific situation, she had the upper hand. they both have their strengths and weaknesses. i'm more of a mass effect person, i didn't mean to step on your toes, halo fans. i apologize. try and forgive me._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Halsey

_AN: I planned on uploading this sooner, but a case of pneumonia decided to stop that from happening. I'm still in the process of kicking its ass, but despite that, heres another chapter. I'm going to try and speed up the process of uploads, but no promises at this point. Cheers._

"You know what's going on, Chief?" she asked, ready to drop from the shuttle.

"Yes. Drop in 5."

"Understood," she called out, leaning out of the shuttle. She surrounded herself in a ball of green energy, slowly causing her to lose speed. She eventually slowed to a stop and disappeared in a flash of green.

The Chief watched from the exterior cameras of the shuttle. It shot right back into the sky. The UNSC was totally oblivious, their sensors didn't detect the shuttle. He looked at the datapad showing Cortana's progress.

It showed numbers and statistics. He never understood it, most of the time Cortana explained these things to him. He set it down and looked back to the shuttle controls. He didn't have to do anything, it flew itself. Shepard didn't say how, but it was very accurate.

XXX

She appeared in the lab that Halsey was in. She was technically a prisoner of the UNSC, but her word carried heavy weight and she got most of what she wanted. Her assistants had just left the lab. Shepard walked up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder.

"May I have a word?" Shepard asked, a small grin on her face. Halsey stopped, frozen in place.

"Who are you?"

"Are we alone?" Shepard asked, looking right at Halsey with a calm smile.

Halsey took a deep breath, "Spartans cycle through every half hour," Halsey looked at digital clock on a monitor, "You have 5 minutes before they get here. Tell me who you are."

Shepard sighed, "Commander Shepard of the Alliance. You've never heard of me. I'll be honest, there is no way to explain this in 5 minutes. The Chief is waiting in the shuttle. Cortana is there, she needs your help. I need you to get all the data you can and come with me."

"Do I have any say in this?" Halsey said, turning to plug the datapad in.

"No. Consider this a rescue. Come on, wouldn't it beat being stuck here?"

Halsey looked down at Shepard's armor, "What armor is that? It's unlike anything I've ever seen."

Shepard looked at her arms, "Doesn't have a name. One of a kind. Designed it myself."

"It's very...alien...It's got a shimmer to it. Almost as if it's glowing," Halsey said, studying it.

"Actually that's me, not the armor," Shepard said, walking over to Halsey's workstation.

"How? What are you?"

"Human. Are you ready to go? We may not be back here for...a long while."

"Give me some time. Where exactly are we going?"

Shepard walked over and pulled a map up on her omnitool.

"Explain what this is," Shepard asked.

"Our galaxy and the surrounding galaxies. Why?"

"Close. Here is us," she pointed to a red circle on the map, "And here...is where we will be going," she pointed to a green dot, one galaxy over. Halsey looked at Shepard in awe.

"Are you...?" Halsey began, but she was interrupted by the door sliding open. Shepard was already gone.

"Halsey, everything ok? You seem..." the Spartan began, Halsey cut him off. She turned back to her work station, then walked into her personal quarters.

"Everything is fine."

"I see. Understood, Ma'am," the Spartan turned and left.

Halsey turned around and saw Shepard typing on a terminal, "Ready to go?" she asked, turning towards her.

Halsey shrugged, "I guess so."

"Good. You know, I was under the impression that you'd be harder to convince than the Chief," Shepard said, walking towards Halsey.

"In most cases you'd be right. I suppose you're lucky I don't like being here anyway."

"I guess I am. Now, this is going to feel weird. Weird as hell. Don't throw up." She wrapped an arm around her and disappeared.

XXX

The Spartan was looking at the details of the shuttle when the engines shot on. He grabbed onto a bar as it dove down towards the planet. He used the shuttle communicator to contact Shepard,

"This is Sierra 117. Do you have Halsey, Commander?"

"Yes, we're on the roof now. No alarms have been activated yet. Open the door, Chief," she said, closing the channel. He slid open the door as the shuttle hovered right next to the building. Shepard and Halsey stepped in, and it shot back to the atmosphere.

"Halsey?" The chief asked, guiding her to the seat. Shepard moved to the front and grabbed the controls.

"John, I'm surprised you're actually here. Did she kidnap you too?"

"Hey this was a rescue, not a kidnapping," Shepard called from the front.

"Pretty much. She's...different."

"Can we trust her?" Halsey asked, reading her datapad.

"I'm not sure. I don't think we really have a choice."

"What do you mean?" Halsey asked.

"She'll tell you."

"Hang on, we're going to have to get out fast. They deployed a pelican to chase us. Chief, I'm opening a connection to Lord Hood. Tell him that you're borrowing Halsey."

He had no time to react, the connection opened immediately. Shepard had already tapped into his systems. How was that possible?

"Master Chief, what is the meaning of this? First you vanish from the galaxy, then you steal Halsey and then force your way into our systems? Explain yourself."

"Apologies, Sir. I need to borrow Halsey for a while. Didn't have much time to warn you."

"This is a violation of many laws, Chief. You know that. Sarah Palmer is in the Pelican behind you. Legally, she can transfer custody of a prisoner to you. Chief, I owe you many favors, but if you think this behavior is acceptable then I'm afraid I can't offer assistance. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Hood out."

The Spartan stood up and walked to the front of the shuttle, "Slow down. The pelican behind us can transfer custody of Halsey to me and we can be on our way."

"What about me?"

"They don't need to see you. Slow down and we don't have to worry about the UNSC on our asses after this."

"Fine."

XXX

"Unknown Shuttle, respond. Prepare for boarding, I repeat, prepare for boarding."

"Copy that, pelican. May I ask who's boarding?"

"Spartan Sarah Palmer, to transfer custody of Catherine Halsey to the Master Chief. Open your shuttle."

"Chief, this may not go well," Shepard said, walking up behind him.

"Go and sit down at the front. You're my pilot, that's all they need to know."

"Fine. If this goes south, be prepared. I don't want them chasing after me."

"You won't kill them, right?" He asked.

"Of course not. I won't lay a finger on them."

The doors to the shuttle opened and the female spartan jumped from the Pelican. She walked up to the Chief and hit him in the face. Shepard closed the shuttle doors.

"What was that for?" the Chief asked, looking to Palmer.

"Breaking the rules, Chief. You can't just go and take our prisoners. It's not that simple."

"Let's just get this over with." He said, sighing.

"Who's that? New buddy of yours?" Palmer asked, walking towards the front.

"That's...my pilot."

"I see. What's your name, soldier?"

Shepard didn't say a word. She kept looking forward, as if she didn't hear her.

"She's deaf, Palmer. Don't bother."

"How do you communicate with her?"

"Normally through Cortana. Let's get this over with."

"What's her name? Is she some sort of new type of Spartan? Look at that armor."

Halsey spoke up, "She's a trial of the Spartan-V program. The armor is of an entire new substance. The deafness was a severe error. We are working to correct it."

"I see. Did you just...decide not to tell anyone that you were working on this?" Palmer asked, walking towards Halsey. She was pissed.

"Don't tell me how to do my job, Commander. Just transfer the custody and then get out of my sight."

"I don't like your tone, Halsey."

Shepard turned and stood up. She started tapping on her omnitool and a sort of program appeared. She activated it.

Palmer was towering over Halsey when Shepard did it. She walked up behind Palmer and slammed her glowing fist into the back of her helmet. Palmer dropped to the ground and Shepard leaned over her. She was out cold.

The Chief raised his gun on Shepard, "What the hell was that? Her vitals are monitored, those other Spartans will open fire any second!" he yelled.

"No, they won't. I'm transmitting your suit's vitals to them. As if nothing ever happened."

"Great. And I'm sure Palmer is totally fine with you attacking her?" Halsey asked, sitting back down.

"She won't remember," Shepard said. She starting typing on the her omni tool, then picked up the datapad Palmer had. She confirmed the transfer of the prisoner and set it back down.

"Why do you say that?" Chief said, returning his gun to the holster.

Shepard walked over to a panel on the shuttle, opening it and typing on it.

"You'll see. Halsey, come here." Shepard said. Halsey did as she was told.

"Palmer will be awake soon, I imagine. The reapers used something we called Indoctrination. I won't pretend to know how it works, but we managed to put it to good use. It's still a very rudimentary version of what they had, but it works. It's mind control. Chief, I think you'll be fine, but I don't want to take any chances with Halsey," she removed a syringe from a dispenser, turning to face Halsey.

"I don't like having to force you to do this, but we need your mind intact. Give me your arm."

Halsey looked to the Chief, who nodded, "I'll do it myself," Halsey said, taking the syringe and poking herself with it. She handed it back to Shepard when she was done. Shepard nodded and turned back to the panel. She pressed confirm and the screen lit up.

XXX

Shepard appeared in a flash of green, with her arm wrapped around Palmer. She gave a wave to the marines and disappeared.

"Spartan! Are you alright?" The marines asked. They offered to help but she stood up and raised her hand to stop them.

"I'm fine. Teleporting takes a lot out of you. It's forerunner technology. The Chief needed Halsey to learn more about it. He's bringing her back in a few weeks," Palmer said. She sat down with a sigh, motioning the pilot to leave.

XXX

"Shepard, care to explain what exactly you did?" Halsey asked.

"Chief, feel any different?" Shepard asked, ignoring what Halsey said.

"I've got a slight headache. Why?"

"In my galaxy, we fought the reapers. Giant robot killing machines. Something that made them deadlier was their ability to indoctrinate people. Change them to their side with no warning. Once they were defeated, we studied them and modified the technology to use it for ourselves. 'we' being our scientists. I have no clue how it works, I just make use of what they gave me. It's some sort of frequency that messes with your head. I'll find some files for you to read."

"What was that injection you gave me?" Halsey asked.

"Some sort of suppression agent I guess. When this technology was developed, I volunteered to test it. It works."

"What is this headache, Shepard?" Chief asked.

"That's the indoctrination taking it's toll on you. You're strong willed, that's why you didn't react like Palmer. I dealt with those a lot during the war, it'll go away soon. This should be the last time you have to deal with it."

"How would I know if I was indoctrinated?" Chief asked.

"You wouldn't. Once you are, you never aren't. There is no cure."

"That is...horrible." Halsey said.

"Very. It wreaked havoc during the war. Imagine if a commander of a squad was indoctrinated. That's like losing the whole squad. It's awful."

"How do you prevent other people using this technology?" Halsey asked.

"After the war, I made it my mission to collect all the reaper corpses. If we left none for anyone to study, it wouldn't be a problem. I managed to track down most of them, but not all. There's probably a few hundred or so unaccounted for. So far, it hasn't become a problem. But it will. It undoubtedly will."

_AN: Didn't really know where to stop, so I decided to end it there. Not the best spot, but whatever. A few reviews indicated that people want more information on Shepard. All I can say is wait. As of now you know they are going back to Shepard's galaxy, so once they get there, more information will be given. With that being said, I will still give more information on Shepard in the next chapter, just not all of it. The Mass Effect portion of this obviously isn't canon. Though, the whole green biotics thing is more simple than you would think. All in due time. Expect a new chapter (hopefully) sometime this week. I wanted to release this chapter like on Friday, but I was confined to my bed most of the weekend. I felt, (and still do feel) shittier than shit. Sleep is good. I like sleep. Cheers._

_Edit: so I know the chances of this are...like...fucking impossible. but theres this dude. this dude is a fucking badass. he...or she...goes by GAR. they fucking inspired me man. they told me exactly how i was doing with my mass effect fics. it helped me...infinitely. if you're reading this, tell me how i'm doing. you cocky bastard. or cocky bitch. whatever floats your boat._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Pills

They were all sitting in the shuttle. Shepard was in the pilots seat, tapping on different panels. The Chief was sitting down, near the back of the shuttle. He stared at the datapad on the row of seats across from him. Halsey was sitting next to him, reading through some of the datapads Shepard had given her.

"Alright, now it's a waiting game." Shepard said, turning around in the pilot's seat.

"Why is that?" Halsey asked, not moving her eyes from the pad.

"Heres the plan," Shepard said, opening a map on her omni-tool, "We're right here," she pointed to a red dot, "We're flying to my ship over here," She pointed to a green dot at the edge of the galaxy, "And then we're taking the Mass Relay out of the galaxy here," she pointed to a blue dot.

"How long until we get there?" the Chief asked. His eyes didn't leave their fixation on the datapad.

"We should be at my ship in about five hours. From there, we need to prepare the ship and the relay, which should take roughly a day. From there, we have about a four or five day journey to my galaxy."

"Shepard, now that we have time, answer my questions," Halsey said, looking up at her.

"I suppose I owe you that much. Ask anything you like," Shepard said, sitting down across from her.

"Are you actually human? I'm still having trouble comprehending this."

"Yes. We could compare DNA to prove it. But not now. I came here hoping to find life, but I didn't expect to find humans. It was quite the surprise. I've been here for two years."

"John, could it have been the forerunners?" Halsey asked.

He looked up, thinking, "I can't think of anyone else who could do it. Unless it was...what was it, Shepard?"

"The Leviathans. Sort of like our version of the forerunners. Though, I think the forerunners were quite more advanced. They have their similarities, the flood were created by forerunners, were they not?" Shepard said.

"Something like that," The Chief muttered.

"The reapers were created by the Leviathans. Kind of. Hundreds of millions of years ago, Leviathans ruled the galaxy, they controlled other species in a way similar to indoctrination. Though I believe this was a more willing form of it, the species paid tribute to the Leviathans, and the Leviathans provided protection. As time went on, the lesser species created synthetic life to assist them in everyday tasks, but no matter what they did, the synthetics always ended up rebelling against the masters. The Leviathans, being the power hungry, controlling squid things they are, wanted this to stop. They created an AI with the purpose of preventing this. At all costs. At first it seemed to work and they called it good, but then synthetic life found a way to rebel. Eventually the AI came to the conclusion that this was the fault of the Leviathans, so it sought to destroy them. Somewhat like the flood, no? I mean, they're pretty different, but in the aspect of creations rebelling against creators."

"I see. So how did this affect your galaxy? What's your story?" Halsey asked.

"Ah...that's...complicated. It's... another story for another time. I...I will tell you when we begin the trip back to my galaxy."

Halsey shrugged, moving on, "What is that force you use? Biotics you called it?"

Shepard gave a grin, "Of course," a ball of green flashed into her hand, dancing around her fingers, "Element zero. Eezo. It's a rare element. Very rare. For some reason, rare to the point where it doesn't exist in your galaxy. Which is weird. Very weird. It's naturally produced when our stars go supernova. When you subject eezo to an electrical current, it releases dark energy. With that dark energy, you can make Mass Effect fields."

Halsey looked at Shepard with a confused eye, nodding. Shepard moved her fingers and the green energy moved from her hand into the air. It changed from a ball to a square, then to a triangle. It shrunk into a tiny ball invisible to the naked eye, then expanded to the size of a basketball.

"Mass Effect fields, as you can guess, affect Mass. When element zero is subjected to a positive current, it increases the mass of an object. Negative currents decrease mass. We base our entire technology off of this, shields, weapons, engines, you name it. With some luck, you can get element zero to form inside of an organic body. With even more luck, that person can manipulate it like I am now."

"That's...amazing. How did you get your biotics?"

Shepard's smile went away, but she continued, "I suppose I should clarify this now: When we get back to my galaxy, not everyone's biotics will be like mine. You won't see people teleporting and supercharging their fists. You also won't see any green biotics...actually maybe one other. Biotics are blue. Sometimes purple, but mostly blue. However, that's just for our time period. I guess. We don't really know. Before I was born, when my mother was pregnant with me, she was exploring some ruins on a planet we call Mars. Not very smart on her part, but whatever. There was a cave in, and the wall collapsed. They found a Prothean artifact behind it...and let me stop here," Shepard said, typing on her omni tool, pulling up an image of an alien.

"This is a Prothean. They ruled the galaxy 50,000 years ago before the Reapers wiped them out. I'll explain more later, but when we found their technology is when we discovered element zero and mass effect fields. Now let me continue: The artifact started pulling her in. Once she got close enough, it exploded. Some sort of failsafe mechanism to protect their artifact. It was powered with element zero, but it was...different eezo. The best scientist I know thinks it's because the artifact was preventing the eezo from decaying somehow. All eezo decays, which is why most of it's blue, rather than green. To clarify, in prothean times, eezo was green. Since the stuff in that artifact was preserved from the Prothean age, it was much more potent. And my mother got a nice heavy dose of it. And in turn, so did I."

Halsey and Chief both looked shocked, Halsey spoke, "So your mother is the other biotic like you?"

Shepard gave a chuckle, "Hell no. She developed huntingtons disease and died 16 years later. Biotics can't be manufactured, per se. The body needs to be exposed to eezo at a very young age, and even then, only about 1/10th of exposed are able to use biotics consistently. Needless to say, I was...extremely lucky."

"I see. I'm sorry about your mother."

"No need to be. That was a long time ago. Any other questions?"

The Chief spoke up, "Who's the other biotic like you?"

"Good question. His name is Javik. When I meant 'like me', I meant mostly in color. He's a Prothean. He's a strong biotic though. Damn strong."

"But weren't the Protheans wiped out?" Halsey asked.

"Yes. Let me tell you, Protheans are amazing. The transfer information through touch. How cool is that? He could tell you anything about this shuttle and who's been in it just by touching it. Javik showed me memories of his kind. How close they came to beating the reapers. How it fell apart. After hope was lost for them, their plan was to go into cryo-stasis until the reapers left the galaxy, then enslave whatever species had risen to replace them and destroy the Reapers. Unfortunately, the stasis pods either ran out of energy or were sabotaged. He was the only survivor."

"He..." Halsey began, Shepard cut her off.

"Yea. Imagine that. You wake up 50,000 years into the future to an entirely new galaxy. Everything you knew and loved is gone, replaced by new, foreign things. I still can't comprehend how he coped with it. He woke up and immediately jumped into the fight. That man is a hero."

"Is he still alive?" Chief asked, looking to his feet.

"As far as I know, yea. Unless he's died in these two years I've been gone. Which is unlikely. Any other...Hang on..." Shepard stood up, moving towards the back of the shuttle. She held up her hand, surrounding it in a green aura.

"That's..odd." Shepard said, turning around.

"What's happening?" Chief asked.

"Well our engines felt...stronger. They got a surge of eezo. Then they lost it...now it's...changing. Going up and down," Shepard said, moving to the front of the shuttle. She pulled up a diagnostic screen.

"Huh. That's so weird. Something's drawing all the power from the engines. And everything else. I'll go outside and check them out," Shepard said, moving to grab her helmet. She picked it up and the shuttle slammed to a halt, bouncing them forward. Then it started up again, tossing them back.

"Hang on to something!" she yelled, grabbing the seat. The shuttle rolled sideways, then jolted forward. Halsey and the Chief both flew into a wall, crashing into it. The Chief caught Halsey and took most of the hit, but Shepard flew down towards the back of the shuttle, smashing into the wall. Compartments holding supplies opened and flew all over the shuttle, spreading them out everywhere. The shuttle jolted back upright and corrected itself.

"Ugh..." Shepard moaned, rubbing her head. The Chief helped Halsey into a seat and walked over to Shepard. She stood up, waving him off.

"What happened?" Halsey asked, picking up the scattered items.

"I'll take a guess and say that the power to the engines fluctuated really quickly. One was on while the other wasn't, and so forth. I felt the eezo output from them spiking up and down."

"Are they broken?" Chief asked, picking up the scattered items. Shepard checked the console.

"Don't think so. I'll have to go out and check them though. Looks like everything else is fine."

"Shepard, what are these?" Halsey asked, pointing to the ground. Pills were scattered everywhere under some clothes.

Shepard looked over and walked over to them. She dropped to her knees, picking one up. Her face was a blank stare.

"Shepard? What are those?" Halsey asked, picking one up. They all looked the same, but their container separated them.

"These...are my pills. They're unlabeled, they all look the same. And...now they're all mixed up," She leaned back, laying on the floor of the shuttle. The Chief towered over her.

"Why do you need these?" he asked, picking one up.

"That's...hm. This is...awkward. And bad."

"Why is that?" Halsey asked, picking up the container with labelled compartments. The pills had spilled out of their labelled sections.

"We...need to go. We need to get back. To my galaxy. Fast. I'll explain when we're moving again. Clean this up for me, will you?" Shepard said, standing up. She put on her helmet and sealed it, then disappeared in a flash of green. She appeared outside the shuttle, moving to the back thrusters.

"Halsey, do you know what those are?" Chief asked, looking at the container.

"I recognize a few. Enzymes and chemicals produced in the body. Naturally. Nobody should have to take pills for these."

"Why would she need them?" The Chief asked, reading the labels.

"We'd have to ask. Maybe it's her biotics? Maybe it's some sort of accident she had. However, I don't know if it's possible to have such an accident like that. We're just going to have to wait. I'm sure she has an explanation. I trust her."

"You're too quick to trust."

"Why do you say that?" Halsey asked.

"She's dangerous. She could have killed me if she wanted to."

"She what?" Halsey almost yelled, turning around.

"I pinned her against a wall and she did something. I think it was her biotics. Knocked me down and just had me laying there in pain. Waves of pain just flew through me."

"You got beat by a woman who isn't even a Spartan? And she didn't even touch you? Come on, John! She's what...5'4, 5'5? She's tiny! You had her pinned against a wall?" Halsey said in a disappointed tone.

He shook his head, "No. I didn't get beaten. She locked up every muscle in my body. There was nothing I could have done in that situation. She had the upper hand. I won't give it to her again."

an: pretty short chapter. sorry about that. pretty busy week. will try and correct this by uploading another soon.


End file.
